A Taste of Red
by IrisTheFlower
Summary: Alfred feared the smell, the scent of pain and loss. Everywhere he sees it, decorating the world. He sees it on his friends' hands and faces whether it was present or not. He sees it on the dead. He knows he won't be able to take it for long. Alfred feared the smell and sight of blood. Zombie Apocalypse!AU


The scent of blood wafted around Alfred. The odor of new, fresh blood made him freeze and tremble slightly. He cringed at his companion slicing his fingertip ever so slightly to lure the zombie before them, only a gate separating the two of them from the dead man.

Alfred wondered if his companion, Yao, could even do it. Yao was incredibly lean and dainty but sly and cunning. Alfred always had doubt in him, he always underestimated him. The man already got into enough trouble to begin with. Yao was the man receiving the most injuries and near death experiences and Alfred always reminded him of this.

He was about to push Yao away when the zombie came running towards them, the dreadful sounds the monster was emitting made Alfred think Yao was going to face imminent death. Before he could even do so, a blade pierced the head of the monster right when it hit the fence. Dots of red decorated their faces, evidence of its final death as it crippled to the ground.

Yao pulled out the blade without another thought, noticing earlier that Alfred was trying to push him away. His eyebrows furrowed into a glare. "Jesus Christ, Alfred, you could have got scratched!"

"Yao, you're the one bleeding. You could have attracted more of them." Alfred retorted, grabbing the Asian's hand painted in red. Yao pulled back and scoffed as he looked through the gate. Alfred heard Yao mutter words inaudibly and instantly thought of Yao insulting him. He always thought Yao was the man of insults, always judging behind your back.

"From the looks of it, the area is cleared." Yao whispered, beginning to unlock the gate door. Alfred was relieved that Yao didn't open the gate door with his injured hand; he didn't want the both of them to run into an accident when they were done. All they needed to do was forage for supplies and run back to camp. The door creaked ever so loudly, making the both of them flinch.

"Gogogogogo," Alfred whispered quickly, pushing Yao in. Behind the gate's hold held a desolate, abandoned town. Doors with holes and wide open for entrance, windows shattered and the floors adorned with broken glass, and a pungent scent flying over the town. Alfred gave Yao a smug look, "Smells just like your cooking."

"Along with your narcissistic attitude," Yao countered. Alfred rolled his eyes.

"You should really fix your hand."

"We're fine; one hand is not going to attract a hoard."

"It's not just that, it can get infected!" Yao sighed at Al's persistent nagging and stopped walking.

"You're right. But right now can we just focus on supplies? We need to get medicine anyway." Yao responded, shifting his eyes around his surroundings to find a store of some type. He located a pharmacy up ahead, the sign hanging by a thread of electrical wires. The electrical wires made him suspicious, but the sign couldn't be producing light anymore since the sign was about to fall to its demise. "I see a pharmacy."

Alfred turned to the direction, spotting the sign waiting to fall. He whistled at the sight. "Damn, what do ya know. This town really was wrecked just by looking at that sign."

Yao already took off, leaving Alfred to catch up to him. "Better slow down with those small feet, man."

"You better shut your big mouth before I break it."

Alfred sneered, "I'd like to see ya try." Yao turned and almost punched his face with his tainted hand but Alfred flinched at Yao's speed and the sight of blood trickling down his hand.

Yao turned to face the pharmacy. Electrical wires sprawled on the wooden porch, windows shattered, and the door was missing. The both of them entered with caution, moving their eyes around the small shop. Numerous over-the-counter medicines were on the floor, glass shards near the entrance, basic necessities placed ineptly on the shelves, and prescriptions still filled the shelves behind the counter.

Yao and Alfred had found the jackpot. Their lips curved into smiles. Alfred dived into the basics including bandages and pain killers. Yao almost snickered at Alfred for grabbing everything the man saw.

"Aw man, Yao! Look at this! This is heaven! All we need now is just food and we're set for years!" Alfred exclaimed. Yao immediately shushed him making Alfred mutter an apology.

"I'll keep watch. After this we can look for food." Alfred agreed with a nod and grabbed the nearest basket to collect his finds. Yao slid outside the shop and leaned against the wall. His hand gripped the handle of the blade, preparing for attack if any zombie came at him. However, the wires on the floor grabbed his attention. The sign was dead, no light was emitted since the wires were damaged and covered in small cuts. But a few wires attached to the roof clung onto the inclined sign.

Somehow this troubled him. The sign, advertising the pharmacy, appeared heavy and wires that clung on to dear life on the wooden roof didn't seem like it would support it. Yao craned his neck to see Alfred still collecting various medicines and bandages. Yao stepped off the porch, ascertain to not make a sound.

Yao made it to the other side of the street, curious to see what could be supporting the condemned sign. He squeezed his eyes only to find a large pile of bricks holding down the wires. This appeared nearly impossible to him. The sign clearly was made of strong metal and it was almost the length of the width of the street. He tried to get a clearer look soon finding strings or meal wires attaching the bricks and the sign.

Yao's heart suddenly jumped. Slowly and nervously he turned to where the tip of the sign was. A metal wire was tied to the ledge of a trivial fabric shop just across the pharmacy. He found more evidence that could cut off the wire to make the sign fall.

It was a trap, a trap to make the sign fall and smash anyone flat to the ground. If anyone went past that sign they were surely sent to death. Yao stepped back, slightly terrified of going past it. There was no other way to go around it. All the buildings were crammed together in a straight line preventing no entrance past the trap.

They couldn't get food and Yao sensed there was a small market up ahead. Yao glanced at the trap again. He would have to deactivate the trap, making the sign fall on the ground to promote access to the other side of town.

He heard the floorboards creak from the pharmacy. Alfred was stuffing his backpack with the medicines and other necessities. Alfred stepped off the porch, his eyes stuck to the sign. "I got some bandages for your ha-"

"It's a trap." Yao interrupted Alfred, point at the sign. Alfred scanned the supposed trap, finding a thing string tied to the Fabric shop and the pharmacy, waiting for someone to trip over it and trigger the trap.

"So are we're just gonna step over it? Best thing we could do y'know."

"But how long has it been like this?" Yao questioned, "This must have been like this for months at least."

Alfred stole a few steps closer. "I say we risk it. We can't live without food."

Yao shrugged in acquiesce. Alfred was the first to step over with a little hesitation. He made it to the other side just fine, "You need to quit worryin', you take everything too seriously, man."

Yao scoffed and muttered under his breath, "You need to stop taking some things too lightly." He turned behind him, hearing inaudible sounds within the fabric shop near him. He took no further resistance to skip over the line, settling beside Alfred. The sounds were becoming more visible to hear. Yao motioned Alfred to keep going, heading further into town.

He tried not to fret over the ominous fabric shop behind him, but both he and Alfred looked back only to find a zombie walking towards them in a rush. Yao's eyes darted to his hand, painted in red.

"_Shit_."

The zombie tripped over the tight cord of wire slightly above the cemented ground, triggering the trap. The leaning sign descended to the ground, crushing the monster in a matter of seconds. The pile of bricks from the roof collapsed along with the sign, creating a cacophony of sound. The sign ripped through the porch of the fabric shop, glass shattering and wood splitting in half.

Yao and Alfred froze in shock, realizing the chorus of sound they caused. The shops behind the damaged scene released zombies staggering out the doors. Alfred breathed out colorful phrases of words already on the run. Yao flinched, then suddenly coming back to his senses. He almost tripped on his feet when running, swearing aloud.

He continuously glanced behind him, in fear they would catch up to them especially with his wounded hand. He wanted to smack himself for even pricking his fingertip in the first place.

The two of them ran down the town, seeking an escape out of the town. The street seemed endless with multiple twists and turns. Alfred pointed to the tallest building, about three stories, to stay in for the mean time. Yao immediately agreed, scampering to the doorway and almost kicking down the door.

"Hey!"

Yao's heart jumped, the voice sounded so real and different. A voice that sounded alive with a slight accent detected. He was more frightened of this female voice than the hoard of zombies down several blocks away. He tautly turned behind him. A girl, armed with a pistol pointing directly at Yao. The girl gave the impression that she was inexperienced with a gun, she was trembling and her hands were shaking.

"You're not going past that door!"

Yao turned his eyes towards Alfred, who appeared to be frightened out of his mind. Yao raised his hands in the air, "We just need refuge."

The girl still had her fingertips brushing against the trigger, "Then why were you kicking the door?!"

Yao's lips quivered, her voice was cold and terrifying. "We escaped from a hoard. They're probably still on our trail a-aru."

"You're shitting me. We set up a trap to prevent any hoard happening!" Her voice was rising in a yell. Alfred motioned her to calm down. She moved the pistol towards him. "Don't you dare start anything, china man here is already making things worse as it is!"

"Look…uh…um…_miss. _We just want to get the fuck outta here, I just wanted to fix my friend's hand which will only take two minutes. _Two fucking minutes_. We just need somewhere to hide and then we're outta here and you'll never see us again, okay?" Alfred was visibly shaking as he said his speech. Yao's eye twitched, frightened if she would pull the trigger.

She set her gun down. She brushed her fringe away from her face to see both men clearly, their tinged, frightened faces red from their rush of adrenaline. Her lips were chapped and bended into a frown. Her eyebrows furrowed faintly as if glaring at the two.

She pursed her lips, "Alright. You better keep those two minutes a promise." She appeared to have given up, dejected in her decision. The two men beamed and felt a wave of relief.

"By the way, you." She pointed at Alfred. "Don't call me miss, it's Natalia."

* * *

**A/N:** Multichapter zombie AU wooo. I'm hoping to keep the chapters pretty long and I've been meaning to write this for a while now. So I'm excited for this. See ya in the next update!


End file.
